


A Smile For Ramen

by cupofbubbletea



Category: Naruto
Genre: One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-17
Updated: 2016-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-27 08:22:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6276844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cupofbubbletea/pseuds/cupofbubbletea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Money is an expected price for food. It's an expected price for anything. But in a certain ramen shop, the price isn't money, it's a smile. (In which a soaking wet boy with dull blue eyes enters a ramen shop and learns that a smile is worth more that any amount of money.) A short one-shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Smile For Ramen

It’s raining outside, and heavily at that. 

The clouds are dark and gray, the colors of the world dull. You're pretty sure nobody’s going to show up during this kind of weather but nevertheless, you wait. Turns out, you do get a customer, but not the kind you were expecting.

It’s a boy, a young one, with soaking wet hair and dull blue eyes. He shyly inches towards the entrance, but as soon as you beckon to him, his eyes grow wide and he hides behind the entrance.

After a moment, he peeks his head through the doorway and you wave. He looks around and then points at himself. You nod, and he scrambles over.

You take a good look at him. He looks rather filthy for a child from the village, and is wet down to the bone. Where are his parents? And then it hits you. This is that boy. The one who the villagers call the Demon child. It fills you with sorrow to know how badly he’d been treated. You never did approve of the villagers actions against the boy.

You ask for his name, and he complies. Naruto, huh? It’s sort of ironic, at least for you. You then begin to whip up a bowl of ramen, the usual kind, chuckling at the boy’s face. His eyes are wide in amazement, and hunger, you suppose, after seeing the thin line of drool at the corner of his mouth. You add the final topping, narutomaki, snickering slightly at your small joke.

You slide the bowl across the counter, right in front of Naruto. His hands inch towards the bowl, but then he pauses and looks towards you. “I don’t have any money to pay you,” he says softly. 

You wave your hand, dismissing the words. “I don’t need any, it’s on the house.”

He beams, blue eyes bright, his face filled with happiness.

And that, is really the only price you need.


End file.
